Drawer adjusting means



H. N. FACCOU DRAWER ADJUSTING MEANS .Filed Sept. 12. 1961 R mm m M in A NW M u m M A H m 6 G F.

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Feb. 11, 1964 United States Patent 3,125,981 DRAWER ADJUSTING MEANS Harlan N. Faeeou, Tustln, Calii, assignor to Vista Furniture tlompany, Anaheim, Calif., a corporation of Ca ifornia Filed Sept. 12, 196i, Ser. No. 137,693 6 tllairns. (El. 3083.6)

This invention relates to furniture, and more particularly to adjusting means for the horizontal adjustment and alignment of drawers in desks, chests, cabinets and the like.

In furniture containing drawers, it is necessary to have some sidewise clearance or play, in order that the drawers may move without sticking. However, it is desirable to provide means for adjusting the possible excursion sidewise on a drawer in its panel or guides, particularly in the close position. However, when a piece of furniture contains a series of drawers in a vertical stack, it is necessary to have the drawers in very exact vertical alignment with respect to each other in order to present a neat appearance. This is particularly the case with furniture of severe modern design, and especially so when light varnishes are used, because the width of the cracks on both sides of the drawers is then clearly outlined, and must not have any appreciable variance from one drawer to another.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for adjustably restraining the sideways play of a drawer in its guide, especially in the close position.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable guide and support member for slidable drawers which is readily adaptable to mass production, and is easily adjustable, but capable of remaining in whatsoever position it is set indefinitely.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

In the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective View showing the front, top, and sides of a multi-drawer cabinet.

FIG. 2 is a perspective, exploded view showing my novel guide means in its relation to the support member.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation in section showing a portion of a single drawer, with central runner, and provided with guide means in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 4 is a view, partly in section, showing the device of PEG. 2 in its assembled form.

FIGURES 5 and 6, are plan views partly in section, showing the adjustability relationships of my adjustable guide.

Generally speaking, and in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of my invention, I provide, at both ends of the front rail supporting a drawer, a guide-support means which comprises a generally fiat and horizontally disposed disk, bearing a vertical guide pin more or less centrally located therein and upstanding from the said disk; and a vertically disposed support rod extending downwards from the bottom of the said disk, with the axis of the rod being offset from the axis of the guide pin. Preferably, the support rod has a polygonal cross section, such as hexagonal.

Referring now to FIG. 2, shows a guide-support means just described, comprising a flat disk Ztl bearing a vertical guide pin 21 and a support rod 22. As mentioned, the rod and pin are offset with respect to each other. Thus, their axes are parallel but not co-linear. I prefer to make the entire assembly Ill of a single piece of suitable material, such as nylon or polytctrafluoroethylene, preferably molded.

The disposition of the guide-support means is as shown in FIGURES 1 and 3, wherein 11 is a support rail for a drawer 12, of which one is shown in place in the cabinet 13 of FIG. 1. In the type of construction which I prefer, but which it will be understood is merely exemplary, the support rail 11 consists of a piece of angle iron. The horizontal portion of the angle iron may readily be seen to be a flat metal sheet.

The guide-support means Ill is secured therein by drilling a hole at the desired position in the support rail, as appears particularly in FIGURES 1, 2, and 3. The hole should be slightly smaller than the maximum diameter of the support 22, so that the latter may be driven in, where it will be secured, both from rotation and egression, by the elastic compressibility of the plastic material of which it is formed. Those skilled in the mechanical arts generally will recognize this relationship as a forcefit. It is best to make the hole intermediate in diameter between the diameters of the inscribed and circumscribed circles of the regular polygon, e.g., hexagon, of the crosssection of the support rod 2%. I may provide a channel 14 for each drawer, which guides the drawer by means of a guide piece 15 attached to the bottom of the drawer in the usual fashion. This prevents canting of the drawer when it is pulled out.

Now an important feature of the guide-support means in accordance with my invention is provided by the offset disposition of the guide pin 21 with respect to the support rod 22. By rotating the latter, which can be readily accomplished by grasping it when in place in the support rail 11 with a wrench or pliers, the position of the guide pin 21 may be varied with respect to its distance from the side wall of the cabinet. In FIG. 4, guide pin 21 is shown in its mean or middle position while the dashed lines show the extremes of movement. FiGURE 6 is a plan view, in which the dashed circles show various positions of the guide pin Zl for varying orientations of the support rod 22. FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken where indicated by the arrows in FIG. 4 and shows how the sidewise position of guide pin 21 changes between two extremes of movement. In FIG. 5, the smaller dashed circles represent the positions of the guide pin, while the larger dashed circles represent the position of the disk 20.

In a guide-support means which I have found especially suitable, the guide pin 21 is inch in diameter and inch high; the disk 2t is A; inch in thickness and 1 inch in diameter; the support rod 21 is of hexagonal cross section, inch flat-to-fiat, and /2 inch long, and its center is ofiset from the center of the guide pin by inch. By rotating the support rod, this gives a total range of movement of the guide pin and its associated disk of inch, which I find adequate for commercial production of cabinets where reasonable care is exercised in manufacturing the drawers and in punching or drilling the holes to receive the support rods. I commonly prefer to make the guide-support means of solid nylon plastic, but a wide choice of materials is possible. Polytetrafiuoroethylene is excellent but expensive. Polycarbonate (e.g., Lexan) and polyoxymethylene (e.g., Delrin) plastics are likewise suitable.

In assembling a cabinet, particularly one containing a plurality of drawers, as shown in FIG. 1, assembly and alignment are rendered very simple in accordance with the invention. Generally I prefer to put the top drawer in first, and then by rotating the support rods 22 from below with a wrench, the top drawer can be exactly centered with respect to the opening into which it fits in the cabinet 13, and at the same time the two guide pins 21 may be brought just close enough together to provide the slight amount of play necessary for easy in-and-out movement of the drawer without either binding or on the other hand allowing so much side play as to interfere with the alignment of the drawer. Then each succeeding 3 drawer is installed in the same fashion, each being aligned in the same fashion.

The relatively flat disk portions 20 of the guide-support means 10 provide a low friction bearing surface for the side walls 16 of the drawer, as may be particularly clearly seen from FIG. 3. i

It will be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects. It may also be noted that, While my invention has been described by the aid of particular examples, numerous variations in material, relative dimensions, and the like may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the claims which follow.

Having described the invention, 1 claim:

1. A guide-support device for use in furniture construction comprising: a flat metal sheet having a circular hole drilled therethro-ugh; a disk having two plane parallel sides; pin means comprising a cylinder of circular crosstioned with said parallel sides between said pin means as section attached to one surface of said disk and perpendicular thereto; rod means comprising a cylinder of polygonal cross-section and of force-fit diameter with respect to said hole and attached to the other surface of said disk and perpendicular thereto and having its axis not co-linear with the axis of said pin means, said pin means, disk, and rod means consisting of a single piece of molded plastic material, and said rod means being force-fitted through said circular hole with said disk containing said flat metal sheet and with at least a portion of said ro-d means extending below said flat metal sheet.

2. A sliding drawer assembly comprising, in combination: a slidable drawer having parallel sides; a horizontal rail; a pair of spaced disks on said rail, each of said disks bearing a vertically upstanding pin means and a vertically down-depending rod means, each of said rod means penetrating and engaged by an aperture in said rail, the axis of said pin means and the axis of said rod means being parallel but not co-linear, said drawer being positioned with said parallel sides between said pin means as lateral guides and resting on at least a portion of each of said disks.

3. A sliding drawer assembly comprising, in combination: a slidable drawer having parallel sides; a horizontal rail; a pair of spaced disks on said rail, each of said disks bearing a vertically upstanding pin means having a circular cross-section and a vertically down-depending rod means having a polygonal cross-section, each of said rod means penetrating and engaged by an aperture in said rail, the axis of said pin means and the axis of said rod means being parallel but not co-linear, said drawer being posilateral guides and resting on at least a portion of each of said disks.

4. A sliding drawer assembly comprising, in combination: a slidable drawer having parallel sides; a horizontal rail of L-shaped cross-section; a pair of spaced disks of'plastic material on said rail, each of said disks bearing a vertically upstanding pin means having a circular crosssection and a vertically down-depending rod means having a regular-polygonal cross-section, each of said rod means penetrating and engaged by an aperture in said rail of which the diameter is intermediate between that of the inscribed circle and the circumscribed circle of the regular polygon of the cross-section of said rod means, the axis of said pin means and the axis of said rod means being parallel but not co-linear, said drawer bein positioned with saidparallel sides between said pin means as lateral guides and resting on at least a portion of each of said disks.

5. A sliding drawer assembly comprising, in combination: a slidable drawer having parallel sides; a horizontal rail of L-shaped cross-section; a pair of spaced disks of plastic material on said rail, each of said disks bearing a vertically upstanding pin means having a circular crosssection and a vertically downdepending rod means having a hexagonal cross-section, each of said rod means penetrating and engaged by an aperture in said rail of which the diameter is intermediate between that of the inscribed circle and the circumscribed circle of the hexagon of the cross-section of said rod means; the axis of said pin means and the axis of said rod means being parallel but not co-linear, said drawer being positioned with said parallel sides between said pin means as lateral guides and resting on at least a portion of each of said disks.

6. The device of claim 1 in which said polygonal crosssection is hexagonal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS I 1,549,845 Munz Aug. 18, 1925 2,355,943 Beede et al. Aug. 15, 1944 2,698,214 Skamser Dec. 28, 1954 2,985,491 Hayes May 23, 1961 OTHER REFERENCES American Machinist, Dec. 9, 1943, page 103 relied on. 

2. A SLIDING DRAWER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A SLIDABLE DRAWER HAVING PARALLEL SIDES; A HORIZONTAL RAIL; A PAIR OF SPACED DISKS ON SAID RAIL, EACH OF SAID DISKS BEARING A VERTICALLY UPSTANDING PIN MEANS AND A VERTICALLY DOWN-DEPENDING ROD MEANS, EACH OF SAID ROD MEANS PENETRATING AND ENGAGED BY AN APERTURE IN SAID RAIL, THE AXIS OF SAID PIN MEANS AND THE AXIS OF SAID ROD MEANS BEING PARALLEL BUT NOT CO-LINEAR, SAID DRAWER BEING POSITIONED WITH SAID PARALLEL SIDES BETWEEN SAID PIN MEANS AS LATERAL GUIDES AND RESTING ON AT LEAST A PORTION OF EACH OF SAID DISKS. 